MVP vote: Who got screwed up the most in NBA history?
Voting for MVP is never easy, though some years there are more clear winners than others. And yet, there are also times when a player might seem like an obvious choice for MVP but he still doesn’t win the award. To determine which players were most overlooked for the MVP title, we looked back at each season and identified the player with the highest Global Rating.
For those unaware, Global Rating is a metric we’re using to measure the on-court impact of NBA players. And if you’re wondering how it accurate it might be in selecting MVPs, it correctly predicted the last two recipients of the award (both Nikola Jokic).
As it turns out, it was the megastars who got hurt in MVP voting the most. Per our research, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, LeBron James and Michael Jordan, winners of 19 MVP awards, should have actually combined for 37 Maurice Podoloff trophies (now renamed after Jordan).
For this exercise, we awarded 10, seven, five, three or one point to the Top 5 finishers in both Global Rating ranking and the actual MVP vote and found the difference.
Wilt Chamberlain
Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Global Rating MVPs. vs. actual MVPs: 9-4
Global Rating points: 111
MVP points: 54
Difference: 57
According to Global Rating, Chamberlain should have won MVP as the league’s top player nine times instead of four, which was courtesy of Bill Russell winning the award more than was warranted. Lest we forget, Russell won five MVP awards while making 1st Team All-NBA just three times, indicating he wasn’t considered the league’s top center some seasons yet was still named MVP anyway.
That could have to do with the fact players voted for MVP until 1979-80 while the media handled All-NBA voting (and is just another example of media making better award choices than players).
As you’ll see below, some of the Global Rating vs. Actual MVP decisions were razor tight. That was not the case for Chamberlain, who had hugely better years, per our metric, than the players who beat him out for MVP those seasons.
In 1968-69, for example, Chamberlain lost out on MVP to Wes Unseld despite outpacing him in Global Rating by 12.58 points, the highest disparity we have in our database for a non-MVP over an MVP. In 1961-62, Chamberlain lost MVP to Russell even though he had a better rating by 12.55 points, the second-highest disparity in our database.
Mind you, that second one was the year Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points for the season, the highest single-season scoring average ever. He still didn’t win MVP that year. Go figure.
Just to save you time here, the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-highest disparities in Global Rating for a non-MVP over an actual MVP also all go in Chamberlain’s favor.
No player got screwed in MVP voting more in their career than the late, great Chamberlain.
LeBron James
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Global Rating MVPs. vs. actual MVPs: 9-4
Global Rating points: 120
MVP points: 90
Difference: 30
Similar to Chamberlain, James was deemed the NBA’s best player by our Global Rating metric nine times in his career but only has four actual league MVP trophies to show for it.
This one is a bit tougher to explain away with anything besides voter fatigue, as the media have been the ones to handle award league MVP throughout James’ time in the NBA.
The biggest MVP “robbery” of James’ career, per our metric, was in 2005-06 when James put up 31.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.6 steals and led a weak Cavaliers’ roster to a 50-win campaign. MVP that year went to Steve Nash instead, who, in fairness, was fantastic that season, leading the league in assists with 10.5 to go with 18.8 points and 43.9 percent shooting from three.
Nevertheless, James is on pace to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer this season and will go down as either the greatest or second-greatest player to ever set foot on the hardwood, so he’s probably not too concerned with this distinction.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Tony Tomsic-USA TODAY NETWORK
Global Rating MVPs. vs. actual MVPs: 10-6
Global Rating points: 110
MVP points: 91
Difference: 19
Although he remains the player with the most NBA MVP awards won in his career, Abdul-Jabbar was still shorted four MVP awards, according to Global Rating, which had him as the league’s best player 10 times in his career, the highest number of anyone on this list.
(Abdul-Jabbar truly is underrated in the GOAT debate.)
The most egregious season in which Abdul-Jabbar was robbed of MVP, per our metric, was in 1972-73 when the award went to Dave Cowens (who also didn’t make 1st Team All-NBA that season). Abdul-Jabbar finished second in the voting that year despite destroying Cowens in just about every metric imaginable, raw or advanced, with Abdul-Jabbar putting up a 30.2/16.1/5.0 stat line vs. Cowens’ 20.5/16.2/4.1.
The Bucks won 60 games that year, too, to Boston’s 68, so it’s not like the team performance argument for Cowens was that one-sided.
Michael Jordan
USA TODAY Sports
Global Rating MVPs. vs. actual MVPs: 9-5
Global Rating points: 104
MVP points: 81
Difference: 23
His Airness was league MVP five times in his career, though Global Rating believes that number should have been nine. Who knows what those numbers might have been if not for the year-and-a-half retirement Jordan took, too.
The biggest disparity in Global Rating MVP vs. actual MVP for Jordan came in 1992-93, the season that culminated with his first threepeat being completed. That year, Jordan led the league in scoring (32.6 points) and steals (2.8) while carrying the Bulls to a 57-25 regular season.
Instead, Charles Barkley won MVP that season behind averages of 25.6 points, 12.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists and a 62-20 regular season for the Suns, his first campaign with Phoenix.
Though Barkley was a very deserving winner that year, voter fatigue likely played a factor in this selection, too – after all, how unheard of is it for a player to lead the NBA in points and steals and not win MVP? – as Jordan had just come off back-to-back MVP awards, and had already won it once before that, in 1987-88.
James Harden
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Global Rating MVPs. vs. actual MVPs: 4-1
Global Rating points: 54
MVP points: 37
Difference: 17
James Harden was involved in some very close races in which you couldn’t go wrong with whoever you picked, but per Global Rating, he should have narrowly won three more for his regular season output.
The best example of that came in 2018-19 when Harden bested Giannis Antetokounmpo by three points in Global Rating but lost MVP to the Greek Freak anyway, 941 points to 776.
Harden’s ball-dominant, free-throw-heavy style of play and his playoff struggles to that point had to play a part in the voting that year, because for a player to lead the league in scoring at 36.1 points per game (the second-highest non-Wilt scoring average in league history) and not win MVP is pretty hard to believe.
Maybe the fact the Bucks won 60 games that year while Antetokounmpo finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting, too, (not Harden’s strong suit) played a factor here as well.
Shaquille O'Neal
USA TODAY Sports
Global Rating MVPs. vs. actual MVPs: 2-1
Global Rating points: 53
MVP points: 34
Difference: 19
Shaquille O’Neal has famously said he deserved more MVP awards than the one he finished with for his career, specifically taking shots at Nash for winning the award back-to-back years when O’Neal thought he deserved it.
(As we already discussed, Global Rating believes those MVPs actually belonged to LeBron, not Shaq.)
But, per G-Rating, the one year that O’Neal did have a case for MVP in which he didn’t win it was in 2000-01, the season it went to Allen Iverson. O’Neal bested Iverson not just in the NBA Finals that season (sorry, Sixers fans), but also in G-Rating by 3.30 points.
That was yet another monstrous campaign for O’Neal, one of many in his prime, in which he averaged 28.7 points, 12.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists with 2.8 blocks while the Lakers went 56-26. Iverson, to his credit, was equally ridiculous that year, leading the league in scoring (31.1 points) and steals (2.5) to go with 4.6 nightly assists.
This one was close, but O’Neal just edged out Iverson in Global Rating, which speaks to Iverson’s greatness on the campaign, as it’s far more difficult for a player of his style – a shot-chucker – to be rated so highly by an advanced metric, especially against O’Neal’s very efficient style of play.
David Robinson
Photo by JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Images
Global Rating MVPs. vs. actual MVPs: 2-1
Global Rating points: 34
MVP points: 34
Difference: 0
At their peaks, there was a constant back and forth between David Robinson and Hakeem Olajuwon for not just figuring out who the best center in the league was, but who the best player in the league was, as both were all-timers in the ’90s.
So although Olajuwon had the infamous moment in 1994-95 when he absolutely abused Robinson in the playoffs after the latter won league MVP that year…
… Global Rating actually believes Olajuwon’s MVP, the one for 1993-94, actually belonged to Robinson, the player that our metric deemed to be the best in the league that season, a 5.10-point advantage to the Spurs legend in G-Rating that year.
In fairness, Robinson did lead the NBA in scoring that season with 29.8 points to go with 10.7 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.7 steals and 3.3 blocks on 50.7 percent shooting. Robinson didn’t win Defensive Player of the Year that season, either.
That’s just how great Olajuwon was.
Karl Malone
USA TODAY Sports
Global Rating MVPs. vs. actual MVPs: 2-2
Global Rating points: 75
MVP points: 47
Difference: 28
In this case, things actually broke even as Karl Malone ended up with as many MVPs as he deserved, according to Global Rating. He just lost one year in which he was the league’s best player, per our metric.
That was in 1997-98 when Jordan won MVP despite Malone finishing with a 1.69-point advantage in Global Rating overall for the campaign. It evened out nicely, though, as in 1996-97, Malone won MVP despite Global Rating deeming Jordan the best player in the NBA that year by a 0.57-point advantage for the six-time champion.
Malone routinely saw players he outperformed statistically get more MVP votes than him, which maybe had to do with him playing in a small market for the majority of his career.
Dwyane Wade
Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Global Rating MVPs. vs. actual MVPs: 0-0
Global Rating points: 19
MVP points: 6
Difference: 13
Dwyane Wade never finished a season as the league’s best player, according to Global Rating, with his highest finish being third from 2008-09 to 2010-11, but he still deserved more MVP love than he got in his career.
Wade’s highest finish in MVP voting came in that first year, in 2008-09, when he finished third behind Kobe Bryant and James despite leading the league in scoring at 30.2 nightly points to go with 5.0 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.3 blocks.
Wade only finished in the Top 4 of the voting once, ranking lower in MVP voting than he did in G-Rating six times in his career.
Jerry Lucas
Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Global Rating MVPs. vs. actual MVPs: 0-0
Global Rating points: 12
MVP points: 1
Difference: 11
The same applies to Jerry Lucas, who deserved more votes than he got in his career.
The biggest example of that for Lucas was in 1967-68 when he finished as the league’s second-best player, per our metric, after averaging 21.5 points and 19.0 rebounds but didn’t finish in the Top 5 in MVP voting that year.
Lucas finished higher in G-Rating than in MVP voting five times in his career.
Bob Pettit
Darryl Norenberg-USA TODAY Sports Network
Global Rating MVPs. vs. actual MVPs: 2-2
Global Rating points: 61
MVP points: 48
Difference: 13
As was the case with Malone, Bob Pettit won as many MVPs as he deserved, according to Global Rating, but he just won them in different years than the ones where the metric had him as the league’s best player.
Most notably, in 1956-57, the Hall-of-Famer was the league’s top player, per G-Rating, by 5.96 points over Bob Cousy, who won MVP that year. That season, Pettit put up 24.7 points and 14.6 rebounds but the Hawks went just 34-38, costing Pettit a fair shot at league MVP.
Pettit had a better G-Rating than MVP finishes five times in his illustrious career.
Damian Lillard
Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
Global Rating MVPs. vs. actual MVPs: 0-0
Global Rating points: 13
MVP points: 3
Difference: 10
A zero-time MVP, Damian Lillard has likewise never been the best player in the league, according to Global Rating, but the metric has rated him higher in his career than MVP voters.
Namely, in 2020-21, Lillard was No. 2 in Global Rating behind only Jokic but finished No. 7 in MVP voting. That season, Lillard averaged 28.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 7.5 assists on 45.1 percent shooting while the Blazers went 42-30.
That wasn’t an anomaly for Lillard, either, as he has had six seasons where he finished higher in our Global Rating metric than in MVP voting.
Adrian Dantley
Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Network.
Global Rating MVPs. vs. actual MVPs: 0-0
Global Rating points: 10
MVP points: 0
Difference: 10
Adrian Dantley getting snubbed in NBA accolades… what else is new?
After missing out on NBA75 honors, we are not strangers to seeing Dantley not get the credit he deserved as a player, as the Hall-of-Famer led the league in scoring two times in his six-time All-Star career.
Dantley was never the league’s best player, according to Global Rating, but he did finish No. 2 in 1983-84 behind only Larry Bird and yet, he finished seventh in MVP voting that year despite averaging 30.6 points (league-best mark that season), 5.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists on 55.8 percent shooting. That was also despite the Jazz going a solid 45-37 that campaign.
Dantley had four seasons where he had a higher finish in G-Rating than in MVP voting.
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